


such is the endlessness

by burningdarkfire



Series: yet is there hope (9 Worlds) [8]
Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, F/M, Light Dom/sub
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-05-20 16:44:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14898236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burningdarkfire/pseuds/burningdarkfire
Summary: 9 different worlds in which the 2 of them meet.eighth - a fantasy AU, where 2B is a vampire, 9S is a werewolf, and they have been at war for centuries.





	such is the endlessness

It was raining heavily, muting nearly all of 9S’s senses.  He was at the edge of his pack's territory, waiting for some messenger to come along, and whoever it was was sure taking their sweet time.  All he could smell was wet forest and all he could hear was the never-ending cacophony of the bad weather, water slamming against everything it could reach.  He was tense, doing his best to keep on guard against any possible Shades, but already dreaming about the warm bath he could take after this meeting.

“I’m looking for a wolf.”

The cool voice behind him made him jump, spinning around to see a pale woman standing behind him.  No – not a woman.  A –

“Vampire!” 9S yelped, springing backwards, nearly tripping over a muddy tree root.

* * *

Zinnia took his share of the deer first, as befitted his rank.  Once he had finished, 9S eagerly took his turn, tearing into the flesh until he was sated.  They groomed each, after, although 9S wiggled like a pup and Zinnia had to pin him down to finish smoothing out a matted clump behind his ear.

"I am trying to help you," Zinnia said exasperatedly when they had shifted back, taking a respite and enjoying the spring air under the shade of the trees.

9S just grinned at him cheekily.  "I know.  But I _also_ know that our beloved alpha wouldn't take a lowly pack member like me out for a hunt unless he wants something."

Zinnia sighed, shaking his head.  "Alright.  There's an abandoned human town, about a month and half's travel to the northwest of us.  It's farther than you usually go, but this is important.  There is a codex I need you to find that may have been left behind.  And 9S – This is important," he repeated.  "You're not going to like this, but it's important.  Do you remember the vampire you met last week?" 

9S bristled just at the memory. 

Zinnia gave him a small smile.  "Well, I'd like to ask you to take some time to get to know her."

* * *

“I still can’t believe,” 9S said, stretching his arm above his head, trying to reach the fruit that was dangling just out of his reach, “that I had to be partnered with a _vampire_ for a fetch quest.”

2B plucked the fruit off the branch and handed it to him.  Her raven familiar cawed at him.

“Show-off,” he grumbled, although he accepted the apple without much fuss.  A few weeks into the trip he had accepted that it didn’t seem like the vampire was going to kill him anytime soon and constantly keeping himself on high alert was _really_ exhausting.

He bit into the apple and made a face.  It was still sour, the late summer air hanging heavy around them. 

2B just ignored him, as she generally did whenever he talked.  Even when they took a break from endless trekking, visiting a town to resupply, rest, or otherwise ask after the codex they had been sent to fetch, she had barely spoken a word, letting him do all the chatting. 

Actually, when he thought about it, she had barely done any work on this quest at all.  She was good for scaring off stray groups of unsavoury characters who might otherwise have tried to accost 9S, but otherwise they hadn't even run into any Shades on the way since they were less active in the summer.  What even was the point of her coming with him?  Surely a class B vampire like her had better things to do with her time.  She was practically nobility.  Zinnia had told him it was part of the truce, to try and understand the enemy.  Or ex-enemy.  Working towards harmony together.

“I can’t understand vampires if they don’t have emotions,” 9S said out loud.

2B looked at him strangely.  Then, slowly, “Emotions are prohibited.”

He scoffed.  There was really no point.

* * *

Later, as he sat on first watch, he realized that she could have been rebutting him.  He had taken it as a sort of snide agreement.  But still, a species who chose not to feel, when feeling was – was _everything_ , everything that made life worth living. 

He watched 2B sleep in the tree above him.  Her breaths were so shallow and spread out that he might have mistaken her for dead, if he hadn’t _already_ done that twice and woken her up when he tried to check, to her great (unspoken) annoyance.

How could he understand that?

* * *

“I’ve updated this map with all the scouting I did today.  It should be easier to figure out what’s going on now.”

9S willed himself not to jump when 2B silently appeared at his shoulder, studying the map they had pinned to the wall.  They had been working together for months now, making their way through the never-ending list of obscure texts that Zinnia asked for.  9S had finally gratefully accepted that it was easier to sleep now, knowing that someone was watching his back, than it had been when he did this kind of grunt work alone, but it was hard to undo a lifetime of conditioning that told him to be very, very wary of vampires silently appearing at his shoulder.

“There doesn’t seem to be much of a pattern,” she said, tracing her fingers over the coloured dots.  "It's never just easy, is it?"

"If it was, they wouldn't send me," 9S said, startled that 2B had said something not strictly necessary, but not passing on a chance to preen just a little.

2B made a noise and after a moment 9S realized she was _laughing_.  "Are you particularly good at fetch?"

9S scowled.  "I'm one of the best trackers _and_ one of the strategists we have."

"And one of the most modest, I'm sure."

9S was about to bristle at the patronization before – _wait_ – did 2B just smile at him?  "Are you ... are you _teasing_ me?"

2B pushed past him to thoughtfully tap a finger against a blue dot on the wall.  "We could try approaching from here.  The snow won't be as deep, so it'll be easier to hide our tracks."

"Wait –!"

* * *

2B's familiar soared through the air towards them, cawing once as it landed on a branch above its master.

"What's it saying?" 9S asked, eyeing it warily.  The wolves had never really figured out how these ravens worked.  Nearly a year had passed since they had first started travelling together and somehow it still seemed like it would be crossing a boundary to ask 2B to casually explain something so ... vampiric. 

There was a truce, sure, but everyone knew truces were temporary.  They had been at war with each other for centuries.  The wolves could never let a parasitic species like the vampires live.  In the meantime though, he didn't want to cause any unnecessary tension with 2B, especially since Zinnia certainly hadn't relented an inch on the idea that they were to be partners.

042 ruffled its feathers and cawed at him dismissively, the noise ringing through the silent trees.  2B peered into the trees.  "A party of travellers ahead.  Allegiance unknown."

"Human?"

"Seemingly."  2B materialized her sword, having apparently decided there was indeed a threat present.  "Don't shift.  Let's see if we can pass them by."

"You're holding your sword," 9S complained under his breath, but he obligingly followed 2B into a denser section of the forest.  They moved cautiously, 2B tense.

"2B," 9S whispered.  2B shot him a reprimanding look, but he pressed on, keeping his voice low.  "It's too quiet.  Nothing is breathing except us."

2B seemed to consider this for a moment.  042 rose from its perch and wheeled off, its wings flapping.  2B waited, presumably for the bird to do whatever aerial reconnaissance it could.

An eye glowed red behind her.

"Care –!" 9S shifted in a moment, opening his jaws in a snarl as he thrust 2B bodily out of the way.  He clamped onto an arm – human, visually, but it tasted and smelled _wrong_ , like –

"Shades," 2B said, slicing at another one behind him.  Her sword flashed, the blood blade catching glimpses of the moonlight. 

9S attempted to make quick work of their opponents.  He hated fighting the Shades – it always left his fur tingling for hours after, an unsettling feeling of _unnaturalness_ lingering even after they faded.  The usual Shades they encountered also didn't leave bodies, so there was never quite the feeling of a confirmed kill – no sense of a life taken in exchange for a life protected.  They just faded back into the nothingness from which they came.

By the time he had dispatched the last one, 2B was already kneeling over one of the dead bodies, with 042 returned and curiously poking at it.  "They seem like normal human beings now."

"They were –" 9S struggled for a moment for the word.  "I don't know, possessed?  Died like normal humans but didn't taste right.  Didn't move naturally either, like they didn't know how to."

"Well," 2B said, standing and dusting her skirt off.  "That can't be a good sign."

9S stared at the dead bodies around them.  "No, it can't be."

* * *

Humans described them as _feral_ , although 9S privately thought that still made them sound much too alive, too wild, when really the problem was that somehow they were dead but still moving, still hungry.  Like Shades.  Or maybe not _like_ Shades, because they _were_ Shades.  It explained a lot of the empty towns, although as far as the rumours went, it didn't seem infectious like a disease.  People wandered out into the forest and wandered back changed.

9S was all for taking a bite out of a couple more to try and figure them out, but 2B insisted on sending off 042, waiting patiently for any potential change in orders, and until then, still doing their best to fulfill their initial quest.

9S agreed, since at the very least they'd probably find more of the human-Shades along the way.  Nothing was ever just easy, after all.  He beamed as 2B smiled wryly at his joke.

* * *

9S woke, gasping in pain, his side on fire.  He screamed, writhing, barely aware of the cool hands on him.

"9S.  Please calm down."

He swore, cursing every damned Shade and vampire and anything else that had ever caused him pain, and tried his best to focus on 2B's face hovering over him.  " _What happened_?"

"Please calm down," 2B repeated, and 9S noticed that her face was taunt, her lips pursed.  She looked more stressed than he had ever seen her.  "I'm trying to heal you."

9S made an abrupt move to roll out of her lap, half-shifting in his panic.  "No – no blood magic – no –"

" _9S_ ," 2B said sternly, "Will you just _sit still_ ," and there was enough authority in her voice, enough pain and confusion in his head, that he whimpered, made the full transition to wolf, and curled obediently at her knees.

"Thank you," she said, running her hands over his fur.  "I'm trying to help you.  Whatever you've been told about vampiric magic – I promise it's not so bad."

He just closed his eyes.

"We were attacked by a group of Shades," 2B said, a slight humming in the air as she worked.  "Ambushed as you slept.  My fault.  Didn't react fast enough.  Stretch, please.  Need to see your ribs."  9S shifted as asked.  "The Shades were big.  Bigger than we've seen before.  Goliaths, maybe."

Her voice was clipped, sounding nearly out of breath as she did – something to 9S, and he just rested his head against his knees, and let her voice carry him to a restless sleep.

* * *

042 screeched itself in front of 9S, flapping demandingly until 9S held out an arm for it to land on. 

"It must be something for you."  2B gently untied the message from her familiar's leg and handed it to 9S.

9S unfurled it, letting his eyes scan over the message.  Once.  Twice.  And again.

The parchment fluttered to the ground as he hid his face in his hands, choking back – sobs, maybe, or maybe a laugh, because hasn't he always known it would come to this? – and of course, now, now that the vampire had done – _something_ to him.  He had felt unsettled for days, like his chest was being torn in two.  He had answered 2B only curtly when she asked if he was okay, and now – now he was definitely not okay.

Zinnia was dead.  His son had killed him.  And isn't that just how it worked amongst the wolves?  Didn't that just make perfect sense?

Zinnia had been a good alpha to him.  He had been – unconventional, as 9S himself was, as he allowed 9S to be.  And now that he was dead –

The summer wind carried the message away, its last words flashing up to the sun –

_Do not ever return here_. 

* * *

9S trailed after 2B, barely even turning his head to look at any of the other buildings in town as they headed for the inn.

"The last available room only has one bed," the innkeeper said, sounding bored.  "Is that okay?"

2B looked over her shoulder at him.  9S nodded stiffly. 

Once they were in the room, 9S immediately shifted, curling up on the rug beside the bed.

"9S," 2B said, and 9S screwed his eyes shut, wishing she would stop doing that, wishing she would stop being so _gentle_ when she said his name.  His alpha was dead.  His pack was gone.  He hadn't been able to bring himself to separate from the last, only creature who showed him some kindness, even when he had never thought it possible. 

He heard the rustle of her dress as she kneeled beside him, and then her hands were brushing through his fur, soft and cool.  "9S, I need your help with these quests."

9S just curled tighter, hiding his nose underneath his tail.  He knew what was going to happen – what he wanted to happen – and it weighed him down, made him afraid.

"It's important that we fulfill our mission," 2B said, still stroking, still too gentle.  "It is what Zinnia would have wanted."

He tried for a growl, but really it came out as more of a whimper.  He did not want to be alone.

"I'm worried," 2B said.  Her hands stopped, and for a moment, he thought she was going to lecture him again on the importance of the artifacts they were collecting, and why he couldn't get distracted, but then her hands were smoothing over the fur on his face, more tender than before, and he felt her lips press to the top of his forehead.  "9S, I'm really worried about you."

Wolves could not cry, but 9S was keening, barely aware of it, as he scooted closer to 2B, as close as he could get, shifting until he was belly up on her lap, throat bared for her, submissive as he had never been before to anyone. 

"Oh, 9S," she breathed, and he knew, without a doubt that his life was hers.

* * *

He shifted back at her invitation – no, her command.  She held him in her lap, close enough that he could feel the faint warmth of her body through fabric, even as he burned, trying to cling closer still.

She kissed him, cool lips pressing against every angle of his face, trying to soothe away the tears that were leaking.  One hand pressed against his hip, holding him firm against her, and the other one ran through the hair at the nape of his neck, gently petting.  She hummed a melody, a soft vibration carrying through her body, and he took the opportunity to just cry, the sorrow and fear easing away as 2B held him. 

They stayed like that for a while, even after he had stopped sobbing, tears giving way to a deep exhaustion.  His face remained buried in her bosom and her hand kept moving through his hair.  The log fire in the room had dimmed to barely a glow, but the full moon had risen in its place, making 2B's hair shine brilliantly.

"2B," he whispered, his voice hoarse. 

"Hm?"  

"I've never been a very good wolf."

"Hush, now."  Her fingers seemed to catch, tugging at his hair.  He whined and lifted his chin, exposing his neck further.

"I've never been –" he gasped as she moved her hand to his throat, letting her fingertips trace the skin.  " a – a good fighter, o-or able to compete for d-dominance –"

2B pulled him up, guiding one of his arms around her shoulders, so that he was sitting up in her lap.  She pressed a kiss to his throat, now easily accessible to her, and another, another, and then let her tongue flicker out, licking the skin.  9S groaned, tilting his head back, whimpering, aching, trying to pull her still closer.  Any concept of restraint that he had previously had was long gone.  He felt her bury her head in his neck and breath him in, slowly.

At the prick of her fangs, 9S moaned, "2B – please, 2B – I'm yours, take me, take me 2B –"

"9S," she whispered.

"Please – please – 2B, please."  He was begging, rutting against her, desperate for more of her touch.

When her fangs sank in, he screamed, shuddering, shaking with want and pleasure from his very core.   Her breasts brushed against his length as she adjusted him, holding him upright, and he could only clutch helplessly at her shoulders as he spilled into his pants, already overwhelmed. 

She drank from him, a soothing haze spreading from his neck slowly overcoming him, and he clung to her, hiding his face in her brilliant hair, lost to desire and feeling.

* * *

9S woke slowly, the world sliding in in bits and pieces.  He was sore but felt more at peace than he had in months.  He stretched out in the bed, rolling around in all the space, letting his muscles wake up, and winced in confusion at a sharp twinge in his neck.

His eyes snapped open and he bolted upright.  2B was gone from the room.  He was naked, his clothes folded in a tidy pile on a chair beside the door.  He was about to – about to panic, to do _something_ – when he noticed the note on top of his shirt, diving across the room to snatch it.

_Getting supplies.  Be back soon. - 2B_

Suddenly just – just very overwhelmed, 9S sat back down on the bed, note in hand. 

The door clicked, and as 2B stepped into the room, he scrambled back under the covers, flushing a bright red.

"Good morning," 2B said.  She offered him one of the buns she was carrying.  "Breakfast?  You must be hungry."

Her face was cool, nearly impossible to read, as it always was.  9S accepted the bread, unsure of what else to say or do.

2B hovered at the edge of the bed for a moment.  "Can I sit with you?"

"Oh – Of course, sorry."  9S scooted over, flustered.

She sat down primly, her outfit immaculate again despite – despite the previous night's events.  She must have already washed everything up while he was asleep.  He must have really been knocked out, to not even stir when she woke and worked.

"9S, are you okay?" 2B looked at him with concern.  "Do you remember everything that happened?"

9S flushed.  "Most of it?  I think.  It gets a little hazy, and blurs together a little, but, yeah, most of it."  When 2B didn't reply right away, he added hesitantly.  "It was – it was really good for me.  Very intense.  Um, I don't really know how vampires – how vampires work, but it was good.  Thanks."

Oh, and now 2B was smiling at him, and he felt like the world could just cease right now and he'd be happy forever.  "It was good for me too, 9S."

"Can you come – can you come here?" he asked hesitantly, and 2B's hands immediately went to the laces of her dress, shedding her clothes to the floor before she crawled into bed with him.  She scooped him up, pressing into him from behind as they spooned, but 9S wiggled and flipped over so that he could see her face.  "I've never done that with anyone before."

"Mmm," 2B said, pressing a kiss to the top of his forehead.  "Mine."

"Oh," he said, a flush running through his body, and he pressed against her a little eagerly again.  "Yours, 2B, I'm yours."

* * *

2B helped bathe him after, scrubbing him clean with a few scolding words to stop wiggling.  They took a quick survey of their supplies, newly replenished from 2B's morning errand run, and spent a few moments planning out their next few steps.

Then they had sex again.

Then they talked about – well, it seemed like just about everything, all the walls between them gone.  2B definitely excelled at after care, and 9S listened with rapt interest and considerable jealousy as she told him about blood bonds.  She laughed when he pouted at her, then kissed him when he playfully whined.

He talked about the dynamics of a pack, sharing stories of his pup years, telling her how much Zinnia had done for him when he had seen him quietly ostracized, unable to keep up or fit in with the rest of the pack.  Zinnia had been a mentor to him.  2B was – 2B was something else.

Then, of course, they had sex again.

* * *

As autumn passed, they settled comfortably into their new routine.  042 stayed with them nearly constantly, no longer making any trips back to seek for new missives.  They knew their goal.  They would find this temple – an ancient place, belonging to the first users of magic – and they would find a way to put an end to the Shades.

Then, afterwards, hopefully, put an end to the war.

"2B," 9S said, as they walked through a clearing, crisp sunlight filtering through the trees.  "When all this is done, let's settle somewhere like this.  Somewhere peaceful.  When there's nothing to fight anymore."

2B stopped, looking around, looking up.  Her eyes reflected the skies above them, blue and untarnished.  "Okay."

"Really?"  9S still found himself surprised, thrown off guard by a 2B who would constantly and openly show him warmth.  It seemed too good to be real, and he reached for her hand, solid and true.  "Then it's a promise!"

"It's a promise."

* * *

9S traced 2B's curves, marvelling at how her pale skin seemed to glow in the moonlight as they lay together lazily, still basking in afterglow.  2B had explained to him how having a blood bonded was immensely beneficial to her, and he had watched with his own eyes as cuts and bruises from a scrape with some human-Shades healed in mere moments, returning her skin to its smooth perfection.  It was truly magic, a life magic, like that of the wolves.

His entire life had been a lie.  Where was the need for war, if they could love each other instead?  Shouldn't they turn against the Shades together?  What had everyone been dying for, all this time?

* * *

The inside of the temple was so quiet, it felt like sound itself has disappeared.  The tundra winds howled outside, muffled by the temple's thick walls.  The air tingled with the unnaturalness of the Shades.

"It's hard to believe this place used to be described as lush," 9S whispered, recalling all the texts that had led them here.  He accidentally brushed against a stone jutting out of the wall and recoiled.  The entire place felt wrong. 

They moved through the narrow passageways, peering down paths that all looked the same at first glance.  Eventually they arrived at some sort of central room, with multiple pathways branching off.  A large stone sat in the middle, an opening in the ceiling above allowing weak winter sunshine to filter in. 

9S immediately darted forward, waving off 2B's insistence that he be careful.  He flitted around the stone, excited to finally have something to look at besides stone and moss.  It was carved with runes that he couldn't read, and when he put a gloved hand to it, he could feel the faintest vibration coming from it.

"It's a source of power," 9S said in hushed awe.  "Magic.  I've never seen anything like this.  Magic without a living host."

"9S," 2B said warningly, and he looked up to see her with her sword drawn.  He had been so excited for something to break the unnerving monotony of the temple that he hadn't even realized they were now surrounded by Shades of various sizes, all writhing and reaching for them. 

"Let's do this," 9S said, shifting.  He and 2B were well-versed in combat together now, and he felt an exhilaration fighting beside her that he had never felt before.  A sense of clarity, even comfort, in battle beside her, that kept him sharp.  He tore into one Shade, clawing at it until it faded back into senseless shadows, then turned his attention to another, and another.  2B slashed at his side, and before long, the Shades had fallen back, returning the place to an eerie stillness.

"Good work," 2B said, catching her breath as 9S shifted back.

"And you," 9S beamed, before turning his attention back to the stone, a new insight in his mind.  There _was_ another type of magic without life.  "This must be some kind of Shade magic.  Something that makes them, maybe, or otherwise keeps them alive."

A stone cracked behind him.  He and 2B both whirled around to find the Shades reforming, combining, a mass of rolling tentacles united as one singular uncanny body. 

"Ah, shit," 9S swore, hopping awkwardly to one side as an appendage reached for him, lashing out with a speed he'd never seen before from the Shades.  He shifted midair but landed awkwardly, jarring his shoulder.  The creature seemed never ending – one limb-thing was replaced by another, as 9S and 2B hacked away.

9S growled as he was forced to sidestep yet another tentacle.  Tearing away small chunks piece by piece wasn't going to work.  Whatever this stone was, it seemed to give the Shades more animation than normal, and it was regenerating as fast as they could damage it.

Time for a change in strategy.

9S launched himself straight at the enemy, seeking the core of the writhing mass.  He tore through the shadows, tearing at whatever solid flesh-like substance he could find, doing his best to ignore what felt like the thousand pinpricks into his flesh as the enemy tried to dislodge him.  He threw it off-balance enough that he heard 2B shout as she rapidly approached behind him, and he tumbled away, catching his balance against the center stone, in time for her to slice it firmly into two halves.

They eyed the leftover masses warily, but neither moved. 

"Finally," 2B panted.

9S groaned, leaning against the stone.  There was a coldness in his chest – a tightness that he shouldn't name, didn't want to acknowledge – his vision started clouding and he collapsed, dimly aware that 2B had screamed his name, running to his side.  He could feel the stone beneath him grow warm as he bled into it, and he pressed against it, welcoming the hum.

"No – 9S, no," 2B cried, pulling him onto her lap.  Using the last of his strength, he shifted back so that she could hold him, as she always did.

He buried his nose against her stomach and breathed in the familiar scent.  He could no longer feel his feet, and a tingling had started up his arms.  "2B, I fucked up.  It must be the stone.  Shade magic."

"I can fix this," 2B said desperately, hands hovering, ready to call on her blood magic, but 9S blindly reached up and tugged her hand to his face instead. 

"Don't," he said, relishing the warmth of her hand.  "You might also get corrupted.  It seems to work with blood, which makes sense."

"I don't care!"

"2B," he said, gently, closing his eyes.  He could no longer see anyway.  "I'm happy to have fought for a better world.  Better than the wars I have always known.  Please."

He could feel her, shaking, crying, but she sounded dim, like she was in another room.  He tried to lift his hand to wipe her tears and found that he couldn't.  "2B, please.  I want you – I want you to do this for me.  To a better world."

Tears fell on his face.  She clumsily wiped them away, hiccupping.  His tongue felt heavy in his mouth.  "2B, please."

At last, he felt her hands around his neck. 

They were heavy with love, as they had always been.

**Author's Note:**

> This one was my favourite one to write in the series! The universe is actually an original universe that I made and wrote a lot about in my teens, so I am always happy to revisit :) None of the details are too important to this fic, I think, so I hope everyone was able to follow along as just an dark ages fantasy sort of fic. Please let me know if you enjoyed!


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